Reviews by MrVonzipper:

More User Reviews:

Thanks to Tim for bringing this one to share. Hadn't heard much of Caldera, but I'll never turn down a beer that I haven't had before (especially from Oregon). The pour was mostly black with a super deep, ruby-red only showing itself when held directly in front of the light. The nice, khaki colored cap sits pretty foamy around a half-inch and lasts for a decently long time.

Very nice, "porter-like" aroma up front - I know, such a great description, right? Light coffee beans, tons of sweet chocolate, and seemingly heaps of cocoa powder. I thought the absence of bourbon was strange, but then I realized that this was merely "oak aged" and not necessarily from a bourbon barrel. Still, the oak notes were fairly subdued and could easily be missed. Some dark raisins reside in the back, but chocolate is the real star of the show. The more this warms up, the more it begins to smell like pure baker's chocolate. So sweet, rich, creamy, and savory. I was smelling the empty bottle long after this one was gone.

It came as no surprise when I took my first sip and was hit with an insane amount of sweet baker's chocolate. The aroma actually lead me on that the beer would be a bit sweeter than it actually is, but that certainly isn't a bad thing. The level of roast is somewhat low, but it's still present; lightly roasted malts and creamy coffee. The roast is a bit more noticeable in the aftertaste, that's for sure. The oak is still pretty mild, but it adds another complexity to the beer, no doubt. Just the same as the aroma, the taste seems to get more and more engulfed by chocolate as it gets warmer until eventually you're sitting there with a glass full of melted baker's chocolate. Definitely sweet, but manageable nonetheless. Medium body, not quite thick enough to be called thick, low-medium carbonation and a lightly silky mouth feel.

Wow, definitely surprised by this one. A very nice and easy drinking porter with seemingly no distinguishable alcohol at 8.5% ABV. Super-chocolate heavy, so cocoa haters won't like this one. Despite the sweetness, it was very refined, manageable, and extremely far from cloying. A very nice treat.

Mogli was a chocolate lab and the beer that bears its name is also brown (and no more transparent either, it's pretty opaque stuff). The foamy, off-white ring of head and splatters of lace remind me of the kind of slobber you'd expect from a big dog. Maybe that cute picture on the label is to blame, but I just want to cuddle up to this thing...

And the aroma makes it even more tempting. The huge block of bakers chocolate is complimented by bourbon-soaked oak chips which contribute nuances of vanilla, toast, caramel, and pantry spice. Usually where there's chocolate there's coffee but not here - there's not a trace of astringency or roast. It's superlatively satiny and sweet.

Mogli is very much a chocolate beer, as advertised. Each sip reveals an abundance of light brown, milky, silky-sweet fine chocolate taste and a few big, fluffy marshmallows on the side. For all this we have to thank "added flavor". I'm not a fan of this tactic and view it as cheating but, hey, you can't argue with the results. The flavours is truly delicious.

I love dark chocolate flavours in beer. The bitter or bittersweet, chalky, roasty, earthy tones it provides are natural fits in things like porters and stouts. Milk chocolate, however, not so much. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and Mogli, with its Cadbury candy bar-like flavours, is definitely an outlier. 8.5% porters aren't normally so approachable.

I'm a dog guy - not a cat person - but would have great things to say about Mogli whatever the name or label. It is luscious, balanced, and deliciously dessert-like. Sure, it tastes a lot like Ovaltine and Hershey's powder (such are the effects of "added flavor") but it maintains enough malty depth and body to still qualify as a serious, substantial porter.

This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance was a black color with a rim of of a tan cap of a head gently allowing minimal lacing after dissipation.
The smell had a ton of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, a good amount of coffee and a warming booziness underneath.
The taste was mostly sweet through the chocolate and booze. Coffee lends to some light bitterness and roastiness. A light mostly sweet aftertaste accompanies a boozy finish.
The mouthfeel was moderately medium bodied with a nice sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt right for an imperial porter.
Overall, this was a really nice imperialized porter, though not a true style, still a stellar offering, I'm looking forward to having again.

Pours deep and dark brown with deep ruby hue,a thick creamy-like beige head atop that takes its time settling into a frothy mass,rich color and a great well defined head.Vanilla lingers in the nose along praline and toasted oak.A rich creamy feel to the beer it just glides down effortlessly.Caramel/vanilla flavors abound with the chocolate and bourbon flavors playing a small role not hammering you over the head,again praline comes to mind with a tinge of nuttiness,mild roast brings it all together really well.With a beer of this style that's bourbon barrel aged alot of times it tastes like chocolate and bourbon,this goes in a different direction all together and I think it's great.One of the top beers of 2014 for me so far.

A: A very dark brown beer with good clarity. The light brown head is made of long lasting creamy bubbles.

S: An inviting blend of coffee, chocolate and vanilla-like oak aromas, all at a medium level. There is a moderate toffee sweetness with some other malt character and a touch of roast. A low alcohol sweetness. Light notes of prunes.

T: Medium fruity and chocolaty flavors upfront that gets overwhelmed by a medium-strong citrus hops flavor and a medium-low hops bitterness. There is a medium-low dried dark fruit flavor, prunes. There is a moderate amount of coffee and toffee sweetness. The balance is somewhat sweet. The moderate alcohol gets away a little bit but this is a imperial after all. The finish is medium and the aftertaste is of coffee and caramel.

M: A medium-full bodied beer with a fair amount of creaminess and a medium level of carbonation. There is a medium-low alcohol warmth.

O: This beer has a fantastic aroma, almost like cocoa crisp cereal-like chocolate with a coffee and vanilla. The aroma smells a touch artificial but after reading that it is brewed with real chocolate it makes sense and either way it's great. The taste is almost as good but not quite as balanced but still very good.

Bottle shared with friends at a weekend tasting. Thick dark brown pour. Aroma dominated by milk chocolate, with notes of vanilla, oak, bourbon. The taste follows the same notes, very heavy on the chocolate. Excellent beer.

Very dark brown in color, but not bordering on black. Small brown head of very small bubbles. Leaves the glass oily and spotted with stick.

Intense chocolate and vanilla layers in the aroma. This one took me aback; I simply wasn't expecting it to be as rich, decadent, and enjoyable as it is. Along with the vanilla and chocolate layers is good amounts of oak and dark molasses fruit cake.

The flavor is just as nice as the aroma. The layers of chocolate and molasses fruit cake are extremely expressive, complemented very nicely by a bit of oak, though it's not overpowering. An incredibly well-crafted beer.

Medium to nearly full in body with low carbonation.

I'm glad Brett hates beer because I couldn't have sat on this one as long as he did. Thanks go to him for sharing.

Poured into becker pint glass; pure black with a nice two-finger tan head that fades slowly leaving a topping of foam and nice chunky lacing.
Smells of chocolate, coffee, oak, brown sugar, vanilla...lots of sweetness and aged character, definitely different than the average roasty porter.
Taste is...hmm. It's huge milk chocolate, not much coffee at all. Very sweet, like a chocolate milkshake. Lesser hints of things from the oak aging, oak and vanilla and bourbon and that, but mostly it's all chocolate. None of the roasty flavor I'd expect from a porter, even an aged one.
Mouthfeel is very full and creamy, surprisingly so.
Overall this is very different from the porters I'm used to...this comes off almost as a milk stout. I can't tell how much of the sweetness comes from the aging and how much is the beer itself. Stouts are porters, but porters are not stouts...but then again the American tradition is to break the rules. So what that gets us is a creamy, very sweet porter that drinks like a milk stout instead of the bitter, roasty style it usually is...but it's still delicious.